I washed my solar panels for the first time in a few months. Here’s the difference on two nearly identical solar days.
solar
Skooliepalooza 2020 Solar Discussion
Here’s the slide deck for the presentation. I’ll be presenting at 3:00 PM MST on January 26, 2020 right about here:
Las Vegas, Nevada to Utah
We loaded up and hit the open road headed for Utah. Took awhile to leave since he had to find a truck stop and check the tire pressure. The monitor he installed indicated 80psi and it is supposed to be 100. The hand held radios were not acting right so we tried to fix it. […]
Completed Lithium Battery Overview
25kWh of total capacity. Charge and discharge limits fence this to 19kW of usable capacity with an expected lifetime of 14-18 years before replacement of cells is necessary. 3kVA in split phase. So about 6kW total outputish. Recharges via 50 AMP RV connection or 2.5kW of roof solar. Remote monitoring via cellular data with packet radio fallback. Weighs about […]
Air Conditioner Install
This was another “big moment” for the bus. The primary reason for the enormous battery is to be able to power everything without care, but also operate the air conditioner for many hours after solar harvest has stopped for the night. The location shown here was just a big open hole in the engine bay, […]
Solar Panel Farings
I was planning on installing panel farings to keep the wind away. I’m pretty sure that strong side wind loads could behave as if entering a venturi and damage the panels with overpressure. Also it won’t look as much like a space ship.
Electrical Cabinet Commissioning
So as it sits at this point, the electrical system is fully functional. In this photo all the major components are hooked up and programmed. I had gotten a good day’s worth of solar, shore power is functional, and all the circuits in the bus are energized. I’m pleased with the arrangement of equipment. If […]
Solar Interconnect Panel
The solar interconnect panel was built next, which provided the critical connection from the panels installed a little while ago. The panel provides electrical safety isolation for the 150VDC potential coming from the roof. The roof panels are wired in a 4S2P arrangement. Each panel with an open circuit voltage of about 42 volts. Inside […]
Solar Panel Install
So on father’s day my friends from work came over and gave me a hand lifting all the panels onto the roof of the bus. It took basically all day to do this. We had to determine the right mounting points on the panel and re-drill new holes for the mounting bushings. When it was […]
Solar Panel Mounting Rails
I’d been thinking for a while about how to set up the mounting/foundation for the solar installation. I settled on “Superstrut” rails that normally are used to hold plumbing and electrical from building frames. The way these work is they’re hung by threaded rods, and then a clamp bolt, which is just a small metal […]